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Ms. Louise Arbour
High Commissioner for
Human Rights
Office for the United
Nations High Commissioner for Human Rights
Geneva
6 March 2008
Dear Ms. Arbour,
We, the undersigned
Palestinian and Arab human rights organizations, are writing to you with regard
to the current situation in the Gaza Strip, and to request that you intervene
immediately and effectively, in accordance with your mandate as UN High
Commissioner for Human Rights, to speak out on behalf of Palestinians in the
Gaza Strip who are being subjected to escalating and indiscriminate Israeli
military attacks. We appreciate your statement condemning the Israeli military
attacks against the Palestinian civilian population and calling for impartial
investigation, but we believe that the statement is not enough and that the
situation requires further action.
Since 27 February, 2008,
these Israeli military attacks in the Gaza Strip have killed 108 Palestinians,
including 54 unarmed civilians, 26 of whom were children. Israel claims that its
most recent incursion into the Gaza Strip, which was launched on 17 February
2008 and has now apparently been temporarily suspended, was a "Routine military
operation." However, when undertaking any form of military action, Israel is
obliged to act within the confines of international humanitarian law, and to
apply the principles of proportionality and distinction, as laid down in
international humanitarian law, including the Fourth Geneva Convention. The
conducts of the Israeli forces are not just regrettable mistakes, but are also
being carried out with intent, as the frequent statements of Israeli government
officials clearly indicate.
In clear defiance of
international law, the Israeli military is, however, continuing to use excessive
lethal force against the civilian population of Gaza, and is also launching
indiscriminate military attacks in densely populated areas, where it is
impossible to distinguish between military targets and civilians. These grave
and lethal human right violations require an immediate and effective response
from the entire international human rights community, of which you, as the UN
Human Rights Commissioner, are a focal point.
Jabalya in the northern
Gaza Strip, is one of the most densely populated places on earth, and it bore
the brunt of much of the Israeli military incursion into Gaza which has
apparently been suspended pending further Israeli military operations. The 108
Palestinian victims of this latest incursion included a number of children who
were killed whilst either sheltering inside their own homes, or playing outside
in open areas away from any signs of fighting.
On 28 February, 2008, four
young cousins were struck by Israeli rockets whilst playing football in an open
area near their home in El-Qerem Street, East Jabaliya. The four children,
9-year-old Mohammad Na’im Hammouda, 8-year-old Ali Munir Dardouna, 12-year-old
Dardouna Deeb Dardouna and 14-year-old Omar Hussein Dardouna were dismembered by
the rockets. Mohammed's father, Naim Hamouda, told Ibrahim Sourani, a human
rights lawyer at the Palestinian Centre for Human Rights that when he found the
four dead children, he could not identify which one of them was his son because
the bodies had been completely torn apart.
These actions, as well as
scores of others committed by Israel prior to and during this incursion,
including the tightened siege imposed on the Gaza Strip, are clearly a form of
both collective punishment and reprisal attacks against the civilian population
of the Gaza Strip; and as such represent a flagrant violation of Article 33 of
the Fourth Geneva Convention, which prohibits reprisal attacks against protected
persons and their property: "No protected person may be punished for an offence
he or she has not personally committed Collective penalties and likewise all
measures of intimidation or of terrorism are prohibited."
Other notable United
Nations representatives, including the UNRWA Gaza Field Office Director, John
Ging, the UN Special Rapporteur on the Occupied Palestinian Territory, John
Dugard, and the Under Secretary General for Humanitarian Affairs, John Holmes,
have recently spoken out about Israel's continuing and systematic violations of
human rights in the Occupied Palestinian Territory (OPT) in general and the Gaza
Strip in particular. We are therefore asking for an effective intervention from
the UN Office of the Higher Commissioner for Human Rights.
In order for you to
witness the effects of Israel's continuing use of collective punishment and
excessive lethal force against the civilians of the Gaza Strip, we would like to
extend an invitation to you to visit the Gaza Strip and see the conditions on
the ground for yourself. The civilians of the Gaza Strip need the protection of
the international human rights community, and you would be very welcome in Gaza.
237 Palestinians have been
killed in the Gaza Strip this year, including 128 civilians, 32 of whom were
children. As organisations dedicated to the promotion and protection of human
rights, we are gravely concerned about Israel's escalating military operations
and continuing use of excessive lethal force against civilians, including
children. The facts on the ground reveal that Israel is continuing to commit war
crimes against the Palestinian population of the Gaza Strip, and these crimes
are escalating in their severity, despite the fact they are illegal under
international human rights and humanitarian law. Therefore, we reiterate our
request for your immediate and effective intervention.
Signatories
The Palestinian Centre for
Human Rights – Gaza
Al-Dameer for Human Rights
– Gaza
Al-Mezan Center for Human
Rights – Gaza
The Arab Orgnization for
Human Rights – Cairo
Hafez Abu Saa’da
The Egyptian Organization
for Human Rights – Cairo
The Arab Institute for
Human Rights – Tunisia
The Arab Center for the
Independence of Judiciary and Legal Profession - Cairo
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